By Michaela Gordoni
Sadie Robertson Huff hosted singer Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren Akins on her podcast to talk about parenting pressure.
“One time Dr. Amen was on this podcast…He said ‘Guilty parents raise confused kids.’…That stuck with me,” Huff explained.
“Because like sometimes out of guilt for how busy you are, what you do, you come home and then you parent out of guilt and so you give them more than they need or you, you know, say so sorry too much for what you’re doing that you actually do feel called to,” she said.
Robertson opened up about mom guilt earlier this month.
She said, “You need to ask yourself, ‘Is what I’m doing wrong?’ If it’s not wrong, then say, ‘Lord, take away the guilt. Give me confidence in the mom that you’ve made me,'” she said.
Along the lines of parental guilt, Rhett shared on the podcast why trying to maintain a work-life balance doesn’t usually work.
Related: Sadie Robertson Huff, Christian Huff Talk Relationships, Authenticity and Parenting
“I don’t know that I believe in it anymore. Because I think if you if you do both things, if you try to do both things at 100% all the time, you’re just going to end up at 50% on both ends,” he said. “I tried to do it for a really long time.”
He would finish a show far away and then jump on a plane, getting only a couple hours of sleep before he had to wake up and get his kids ready for church.
“I was a zombie,” he said. “…So like I have been in this place in my life where like if I’m at work, it’s got to be 100% work. I’m like I can FaceTime the kids and all that kind of mess, but like the thought of me trying to continue to separate myself and spread myself so thin to make work happy and also make my family happy that I’m just at I’m running at like a 20% version of myself…”
“The hardest part for me, I think, is coming home and really learning how to disconnect from my job, right?…So like my biggest thing is like when I roll through the door, the phone has to go somewhere else,” he said.
Akins explained that it’s hard to say “no” when you keep getting constant opportunities.
“I can remember years ago…People were asking us to do all these things…I’m like, ‘Lord, I am ready. I’m ready for the next yes, the next thing you got for me,'” she said.
But “He so clearly was like, ‘The things I have for you are under your roof right now.’ And like that is where I have you next. And it was just like this moment of like total deflation of my pride,” she said.
But she knew it was for the best, and it certainly turned out that way.
Rhett and Lauren just welcomed their fifth child last month, Brave, their first son. Since his birth, the family has been taking it slow and soaking up time with him.
Rhett shared photos from their spring break, showing off photos of lots of baby snuggles.
“Spring break looks a little different these days,” he wrote.
Rhett, Akins and Huff’s reflections show the importance of being fully present with your family and releasing guilt that gets in the way of intentional parenting.
Read Next: Thomas Rhett and Family Are ‘Over the Moon’ with First Baby Boy: ‘Thank You Jesus’
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